Rubber heel



Nov. 11, 1941. c. F. STIEL 2,262,518

RUBBER HEEL Filed Dec, 16, 1940 l 3/ v It 5' 20 Car/[S616] E 4 w; $2M m'bunnc rubber from quicklywearing down.

Femin ne-{ .1;

RUBBER. near. 7 oan F. suel, St. Paul, Minn.

Application December 16, 1940, Serial No. 370,333

8 Claims.

' Myinvention relates to an improvement in rubber heels, of a type designed particularly to be long wearing and wear resistant.

Rubber heels for shoes, boots and the like are extremely common, their resiliency making walking more comfortable and less tiring, While rubber will wear better I used substances, it is still true that leather heels reinforced with metal plates -or;hob nails will last much longer and'provide a squa're heel for considerable periods of time. Such metal plates and hob nails,;however, are extremely apt to mar surfaces upon which they bear, and make considerable noise. r -Itis the object of the pre'sent invention to provide a rubber heel construction embodying resilient means intheiorm of spiral nails and the like. These fspiralnails havethe advantage of reinforcing the rubber, and preventing the At the same timefhowever, the nails have sufficient spring quality to flex resiliently with the rubber, and

accordingly they do not impair the resiliency of the rubber heels. As a result, the heels maintain their 'shape much I I be possible and at the same time have all of the advantages of theusual rubber-heels.

It is a feature of my invention to provide a considerable number of my spiral nails in the body of the heel. is compressed, it packs tightly aboutthe nails, and is. supported-thereby. Thus, in addition to the advantage of the longer wearing qualities of the exposed nail heads, the rubber itself is pressed harder and firmer.

It is a further feature of my invention to provid'e on my spiral nails a series of spaced heads which are consecutively exposed as the heel wears. Such a construction is of considerable value, as the spacing of the heads permits the rubber to encase the bodyof the nail between the spaced heads, and to provide a bearing of than most commonly a longer than would otherwise Thus as the rubber of the heel resilient than the nails,

1 UNITEDY-ISTATES PATENTIOEFICE of the cross sectional area of out its length were employed, it would be stiff and relatively inel asticto compression.

It is a feature of my construction that the heel will wear down more evenly than with common constructions of heels, thereby maintaining the upper portion of the shoe in its proper shape. When the heel wears'unevenly, the upper portion of the 'shoe becomes distorted and out of shape. This upper portion of the shoe 7 cannot well be formed back into shape when a new heel is attached to the shoe, and 'often the shoes have to be discarded while the leather of the upper portion of the shoe is in good condition."

It is a further, feature of my invention that the nails will prevent slipping, and provide better traction than common rubber heels. The rubber about the nails prevent the same from marring a surface upon. which the heel bears. At the same time, the rubber may be somewhat more thus having somewhat the effect of hob nails or cleats, and have the advantages withoutthe common disadvantages, of such constructions.

It is a feature ;of my invention that the spiral 1 nails may be placed at the points of most wear, while the portions or the heel which do notwear rubber for each of the heads as-downwardpressure onthe heel is exerted.

It is important in this construction that as the heel wears down slowly, one head after another will be exposed, thus providing a considerable area of reinforcing at all times exposed while at the same time the body of rubber forming the heel is greater than would be the case if a spiral of the area of the "spaced nail heads throughout its entire length were used. In other words, the spaced heads provide a great amount of wearing surface without sacrificing the resiliency of a sma".er ross section nail. If a spiral as quickly may be left devoid of the reinforcement. This isof assistance in maintaining even wear of the heel surface.

It is a further feature of my invention that the heads of my spiral nails may be irregularly shaped, thus obviating to twist or turn in the in this way be guarded against any tendency for any tendency for thenails the spiral to work through the body of the heel upon compression.

These and other objects and novel features. of

my invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawing forming a part of my specification:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a heel embodying a number pf reinforcing spiral nails advantageously distributed throughout the body of the heel.

Figure 2 is a greatly enlarged side elevation view of a spiral nail of my new design.

Figure 3 is'a top elevation of the spiral nailv illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a top plan view of a modified form of nail in which the spaced heads are of noncircular shape.

The heel A may be of any desired shape or configuration, and of a size to fit any size of the heads througn heel body. The nails may shoe. The heel A embodies a series of spiral nails, indicated in general by the letter B, placed in advantageous position therein.

The heel A is preferably of resilient material. such as the body I of rubber. It may be of any suitable material, however, and the nails B may be successfully used ih heels of other materials such as various compositions, imitation leather, compressed leather and the like.

- As will be best seen from an examination of "Figure 1 of the draw n the nails B are preferably placedto form an outer row ll of nails B following the contour of the perimeter of the heel. Spaced within this row Ii of nails I prefer to provide the usual recesses or cavities I! to accommodate the nails used to attach the heel to the shoe. Between each adjacent pair of recesses I2 I position three consecutive rows of nails B, indicated by the numerals l3, l4 and I5. which, in the case of a heel for a man's shoe, may consist in three nails B in the outer row l3, and two nails in each of the rows l4 and I5. An additional reinforcing nail I6 is placed at each of the forward comers of the heel, to stiffen and strengthen these corners.

The nails B are provided with a spiral shank r body ll of a cross-sectional area to readily flex or compress whenvweight is exerted longitudinally thereagainst. Spaced longitudinally of the body I1 I provide a series of spaced heads IQ of relatively larger area, to provide a solid bearing for the weight. The heads I! are shown circular in shape, but need not be of the specific shape.

In Figure 4 of the drawing, I disclose a nail of a type similar to the nail B, which I have designated by theletter C. The nail Cis pro- 2l integrally formed therein; The heads 2| are elongated in shape, and prevent any tendency for the nail to twist or turn in the heel body. Thisfcrm of .nail can be readily substituted for the nail B in amanner which will be obvious to 'vided-with a spiral body 20, having spaced headsthe contour of the said body a series of spirals of relatively harder material extending from top to bottom of said body, and a series of longitudinally spaced irregularities in said spirals.

'2. A heel comprising a bodyhaving top and bottom surfaces, a series of spirals having their axes substantially perpendicular to said surfaces, and a series of irregularities longitudinally spaced in said spirals. 1

3. A heel comprising a body having top and bottom surfaces, a series of spirals ofresilient material relatively harder than said heel body having their axes substantially perpendicular to said surfaces, and spaced irregularities in said spirals. v

4. A heel comprising a body having top and bottom surfaces, a series of spirals of resilient material relatively harder than said heel body having their axes substantially perpendicular to said surfaces, and spaced enlargements in said spirals.

5. A heel comprising a body having top and bottom surfaces, a series of spirals of resilient material relatively harder than said heel body having their axes substantially perpendicular to said surfaces, and spaced heads of greater dimensions in at least one direction in said spirals.

6. A heel comprising a body having top and bottom surfaces, a series of spirals or resilient material relatively harder than said heel body having their axes substantially perpendicular to said surfaces, and spaced circular heads of larger diameter than the bodv of said spirals integrally formed in said spirals.

7. A heel comprising a heel body having opposed top and bottom surfaces, a series of spiral shanks having their axes perpendicular to said surfaces embedded 'in' said body, and spaced heads of irregular shape and of larger crosssectional area than said spirals integrally formed thereon.

8. A heel comprising a heel body having opposed top and bottom surfaces, a series of spirals of material harder than the material of said heel body having their axes perpendicular to said surfaces and embedded in said body, said spirals being arranged in a border, row following heel body and closely assoclated'therewith, said heel body having a series of attaching nail recesses therein within said border row, and a series of rows of spirals in between each adjacent pair of nail recesses.

- CARL F. STIEL. 

